The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-14
HYPNOTISM.
The Power of One Man to Con-
troll Another's Actions.
How 1t was Discovered and Ex-
planned by a Doctor.

planned by a DOCTOR.
In 1871 James Braid was in practice
as physician at Manchester, Thither
came La Fontaine lecturing on mesmer-
Ism and performing experiments Of the
familiar type illustrating the theory Of
the stronger will and the dominant idea.
Braid was interested in the lectures, sus-
pectcd the experiments to be lmpostures,
and declared the theory to be false. He
worked at the subject himself, and in the
years following issued several books con-
tanning most remarkable experiences re-
garding what he called neuro-h ypnotism,
but which after him was for long time
known as Braidism and is now described
in all the dictionaries and text books as
hypnotism Braid found that most Of
the phenomena could be self-induced.
That a man 50 to speak, could mesher-
ize himself by fixing his gaze on
some inanimate object and concen-
trate his attention. He thus, to
his satisfaction, proved the subjec-
tive nature of the influence. To
talk of animal magnetism from an mani
mate object was absurd. Braidism met
with much opposition. 1t was furiously
attacked by the mesmerIsts, whose very
citadel it threatened, and it was received
with horror by large section Of the pub
lie, who refused to believe in the posi-
bility of its phenomena. There was no
mystery as to the method 0! procedure.
All that Braid did was to take any bright
object, such as his lancet case, between
the thumb and fore and middle fingers
of the left hand, and hold it from eight
to fifteen inches from the eyes of the
patient in such position above the fore
head as was necessary to produce the
greatest strain on the eyes and eyelids
On this bright point the patient was to
stare fxedly. In ordinary cases in ff-
teen seconds, if the patients limbs were
lifted they would evInce tendency to
remain in the position to which they had
been raised; in a few seconds more
strange feeling of exaltation would
spread through him; in q few seconds
more he would be asleep and insensibIe
to pain.
There never is anything new, and, of
course, there was nothing new in Braid's
discovery. The Egyptians used to hyp-
notize their believers by making them
gaze at the scratches on the crystal
sphere. The Egyptian priests hypno-
TIED theirs by making them stare at the
mystic signs on the bright metal mirror.
The anchorites lifted their eyes fixedly
to the armament and went off into
ecstacy. The monks of Mount Athos
hung their heads and looked downward
until they felt their senses swim away,
and the Indian ascetics of 1887 gain
hypnotic power by gazing at the tips of
their noses, as their ancestors have done
for ages.
AS to mesmerizing animals with the
''passes," which, granting Braid's the
DRY, is the same thing as hypnotizing
them, there are innumerable examples
The iguana can be hypnotized, so can
the cobra, so can the turtle Secure
their fixed attention for a minute or
two and they are helpless.
AS it is with an animal so it is with
man. Hold his undivided attention for
short period and he will fall away into
a state resembling catalepsy. Let him
look at a glittering piece of glass, dia-
mond stud or an emerald pin and before
his eyes have begun to ache he will col
lapse. There is case on record of a
student who was told he would be hyp-
Noticed from distance at 4 o'clock on a
certain day. He was to look at the
clock little before to see how the time
was going. An umpire, a wcll-known
physician, was told off to watch him.
At a minute or two to t he looked at the
clock, and his gaze became fixed, and as
the clock struck he fell back as if he had
been sent to sleep with full mesmeric
honors
1t does not suit everybody to hypnot-
lie, nor does it suit everybody to be hyp-
Noticed The beginner, ''for fun" may
find the patient 90 off into convulsions,
and refuse to be awakened by tap or
apuff;" so it is best to leave expert
menting to competent medical practi-
+iOporC oil